Dunrobin Fun Seekers Clue #2

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Image

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Photographs

Description

Ode to Lego Landers”
By ‘The Fun Seekers’
The WI Scavenger Hunt Clue #2: "Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found” and with this in mind, we are to build something that our team feels, represents Women’s Institute (WI).
The ‘Fun Seekers’ started with a Zoom team meeting to brainstorm for ideas about what to build and what our story should say. We came up with a list of commonly used terms often used to describe what WI stands for and where our dedications hold fast: our motto “For Home And Country”, heart of the home, preservation of rural heritage, supporting others in fun times and tragic times - all elements of our WI Community focus. Our involvement and our advocacy expand beyond local borders to include, currently, the victims of the war in the Ukraine. Our Lego board would depict these elements. We discussed roles of the team in this endeavour and wondered where we would find enough Lego to build what we envisioned. Luckily for our team, two members of our WI membership had great foresight (one, a part of our team) and had retained a mega stash of Lego that once belonged to their children. Let it be noted that the ‘Fun Seekers’ have much gratitude for these two members and to equate mega with how much Lego we had at our disposal was at the very least astonishing.
One member forwarded sample templates for Lego building structures and a few days later, we had our first play date. Admittedly, the amount of Lego was a bit daunting but, mulling over what we needed to do, we devised a strategy and realized that we now had ”...the finding of a thing...”, and so we began the challenge of building what we envisioned.
Three hours into play date, we realized that the mechanics of putting Lego pieces together was a lot harder than we expected. But we persevered in true WI spirit, making light of our mistakes, being imaginative, collaborating on trying to get the Lego pieces to stick together, and digging into the bins which held thousands of pieces to find that one elusive piece that measured no more than 1 cm high and .5 centimetres wide. The term: “needle in a haystack” came to mind frequently during this exercise!
The fun had begun but we did need a mental and physical break and so, sitting in the sun, we raised a glass to what we had accomplished so far and contemplated our next move. A tasty dinner and a cup of tea later, we headed back to the Lego board. Time flew and four hours passed; with heavy eyelids and deep sighs, we could see the end in sight. We had what we thought we needed to depict what Clue #2 called for and realized we had reached the point of "...making something out of it after it was found...” or so we hoped. Our imaginations and creativity had served us well, perhaps a bit too well as our Lego board now measured 30.5 x 19 inches. It was awesome to look at but how to move it was a worry!
The Lego board layout is meant to represent scenes of both local and international communities where you will find WI and what WI will be doing. Coincidentally, while playing in Lego Land, we realized that the colours of the WI, royal blue and yellow, are like the colours of the Ukrainian Flag. It seemed fitting that our story line should represent both communities. The board’s design aims to provide a realistic view into our worlds together. Could we manage to combine a bit of fantasy with reality? We repurposed rail tracks to create an outline of a world globe (sphere), tumbled pieces to simulate a war zone, and we built a house within which stands a heart - heart of the home.
Laying out the scenes, on the front corner within a global sphere, we built a heritage rural scene, a peaceful scene, preserving rural life. On the back corner, a scene represents the assault and the ruins of a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine and the desperation of its citizens requiring aid on the ground. Adjacent to and on the other side of the board we built a jovial village scene, representative of Dunrobin Village where WI is active. When we had the last Lego piece in place, these two ‘Fun Seekers’ were feeling incredibly satisfied and accomplished and very much like WI Women, involved and inspired!
Next day, next task, how to marry the design of the board to the story. We reflected on the words of the highly revered ‘Mary Stewart Collect’. We wanted to depict, “...we may realize that it is the little things that create differences, that in the big things of life we are one...”. Expanding on this we call to mind: just as the WI role through ACWW globally supports women of Ukraine in this horrific war, likewise, the Dunrobin WI supported Disaster Relief to the Dunrobin community through both tornado and floods, and will support the refugees fleeing the war and immigrating to our area. There is a connection!
True to the 125-year span of WI members, recalling the written chronicles of the “Tweedsmuir” and several books, WI, in Dunrobin is about community support. Recipients of our efforts locally are the Food Bank and those providing meals for seniors and individuals who are and require social visits. We connect with high school and junior clubs like Scouts, Sparks and Brownies and hockey teams so that we can expand their awareness of the needs of those around us. We come together to celebrate community activities such as the lighting of the Village Christmas Tree, Canada Day, yard sales and anniversary celebrations - the good times and the troubled times. In conclusion, we reflected on ‘The Women’s Institute Ode’ as follows:
A goodly thing it is to meet,
in friendships circle bright.
Where nothing stains the pleasure sweet
nor dims the radiant light.
No unkind word our lips shall pass,
nor envy sour the mind.
But each shall seek the common weal,
the good of all mankind.
We hope that our story entitled “Ode to Lego Landers”, our photo and the design of our Lego board demonstrate what we see as “where you will find WI, what connects WI to the world, and what WI represents to us”.
The ’Fun Seekers’ had fun, stretched imaginations, honed engineering skills, and look forward to Clue #3!
THE END.

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